Eggplant Strata(layers)

I’ve gotten fabulous reviews on this dish. A mandolin slicer is your best friend. I have one that slices thin, medium and thick. It makes this casserole a breeze. Just about everything gets run through the slicer and then layered into the pan. How easy is that!

Ingredients

3 medium Eggplant, sliced into rounds, ¼ inch thick

8-9 Roma Tomato, sliced into rounds, ¼ or 1/8 inch thick

1 large Yellow Onion, sliced 1/8 inch thick

1 Red or Orange Sweet Bell Pepper, sliced ¼ or 1/8 inch thick

1 Pablano Pepper, sliced ¼ or 1/8 inch thick

½ cup fresh Basil, minced

3 TBLspoon Garlic, minced

4 oz fresh Baby Spinach, chopped or whole.

Olive Oil Spray

Optional

½ pound Mushrooms, sliced

Any fresh vegetable in season, sliced thin. Including yellow squash, zucchini, any greens (chard, kale)….use your imagination.

Directions

Do all the chopping and slicing first, and then assemble into the baking pan. So….slice Eggplant, Roma Tomato, Yellow Onion and chop spinach In to their own SEPARATE bowls/containers. Slice the Sweet Bell Pepper and Pablano Pepper and mix together in one bowl/container. Mince Basil and Garlic, and then mix together in one bowl/container. Continue with any optional vegetables, keeping them in separate bowls/containers.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Use Olive Oil Spray to coat 9x13 baking pan. All the vegetables are applied in sequence – twice. First layer: 1/3 of the eggplant on bottom of baking pan, followed with ½ of the Roma Tomatoes, ½ of the Yellow Onion, ½ of the Sweet & Pablano Peppers. Then apply dollops of the Basil & Garlic mix using half of what is prepared. Next layer on ½ of the Baby Spinach. This is the first half, now repeat the stack, 1/3 of Eggplant, followed by rest of Roma Tomatoes Yellow Onion, Sweet & Pablano Peppers, dollops of Basil & Garlic and last of Baby Spinach. Complete the top with the last 1/3 of the Eggplant. This construction may stack higher than the sides of your baking pan, depending on how deep your dish may be. But get it to balance in there as best you can. It will shrink during the baking. As a finally ‘sealer’ spray the top with a light coating of Olive Oil spray. Bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Or until tender. Cover LIGHTLY with foil after 1 hour if it is browning too much.

Abstinent Measuring

1 cup = 1 vegetable

Notes

The long cooking time is remove all (or most) the liquid from the fresh vegetables. If you like it more like a stew, reduce the oven time and take out when vegetables are tender.

Serving Suggestions: Asiago Cheese goes especially well with this dish and you don’t need a lot of it. At 1 hour of baking, sprinkle ¼ cup Asiago cheese on top of the baking vegetable and return to oven. OR sprinkle a TBLspoon on top of your measured cup for that hint of tangy sweetness to offset the peppers.

Adapted from Eggplant Strata in Vegetable Heaven by Mollie Katzen and Eggplant Parmesan Bake in Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet by Raman Prasad